Caste system. All about Indian castes

Any traveler who decides to visit India has probably heard or read that the population of this country is divided into castes. There is nothing like this in other countries; castes are considered a purely Indian phenomenon, so every tourist simply needs to get acquainted with this topic in more detail.

How did castes appear?

According to legend, the god Brahma created varnas from parts of his body:

Mouths are brahmins.
Hands are kshatriyas.
Hips are vaishyas.
The feet are sudras.

Varna - more general concept. There are only 4 of them, while there can be a great many castes. All Indian classes differed from each other in a number of features: they had their own duties, homes, individual color of clothing, the color of the dot on the forehead and special food. Marriages between members of different varnas and castes were strictly prohibited. Hindus believed that human soul is reborn. If someone has followed all the rules and laws of his caste throughout his life, in his next life he will rise to a higher class. Otherwise he will lose everything he had.

A little history

It is believed that the first castes in India appeared at the very beginning of the formation of the state. This happened about one and a half thousand years BC, when in the territory modern India The first settlers began to live. They were divided into 4 classes, later these groups were called varnas, which literally means “color”. The word “caste” itself contains a certain concept: origin or pure breed. Each caste over the centuries was determined mainly by profession or type of activity. The family craft passed from father to son and remained unchanged for dozens of generations. Any Indian castes lived under a certain set of regulations and religious traditions, which regulated the norms of behavior of their members. The country developed, and with it the number of various groups population. The multiple castes in India were amazing in their numbers: there were more than 2000 of them.

Caste divisions in India

Caste is a certain level in the social hierarchy that divides the entire population of India into separate groups of low and high origin. Belonging to one or another part determines the type of activity, profession, place of residence, as well as who a person can marry. The division into castes in India is gradually losing its significance. In modern major cities and in the educated environment, division into castes is officially prohibited, but there are still classes that largely determine the life of entire groups of the Indian population:

Brahmins are the most educated group: priests, mentors, teachers and scholars.
Kshatriyas are warriors, nobles and rulers.
Vaishyas are artisans, cattle breeders and farmers.
Shudras are workers, servants.

There is also a fifth group representing the Indian castes - the untouchables, who in Lately began to be called oppressed. These people do the hardest and dirtiest work.

Characteristics of castes

All castes in Ancient India are characterized by certain criteria:

Endogamy, that is, marriages can only take place between members of the same caste.
By heredity and continuity: you cannot move from one caste to another.
You cannot eat with representatives of other castes. In addition, any physical contact with them is strictly prohibited.
A specific place in the structure of society.
Limited choice of professions.

Brahmins

Brahmins are the highest varna of Hindus. This is the highest Indian caste. The main goal of brahmins is to teach others and learn themselves, bring gifts to the gods and make sacrifices. Their main color is white. At the very beginning, only the priests were Brahmins, and only in their hands was the right to interpret the word of God. Thanks to this, these Indian castes began to occupy the highest position, since only God himself was higher, and only they could communicate with him. Later, scientists, teachers, preachers, and officials began to be classified as the highest caste.

Men of this caste were not allowed to work in the fields, and women could only do homework. A brahmana should not eat food prepared by a person from another class. In modern India, more than 75% of government officials are representatives of this caste. There are unequal relations among the various subclasses. But even the poorest of the Brahmin subcaste occupies a higher level than others. Killing a member of the highest caste in ancient India is the greatest crime. From time immemorial it was punishable by death in a cruel form.

Kshatriyas

Translated, “kshatriya” means “powerful, noble.” These include nobles, military personnel, managers, and kings. The main task of a kshatriya is to protect the weak, fight for justice, law and order. This is the second most important varna representing the Indian castes. This class maintained its existence by collecting minimal taxes, duties and fines from subordinates. Previously, warriors had special rights. They were the only ones allowed to carry out punishments against members of castes other than Brahmins, including execution and murder. Modern kshatriyas are military officers, representatives of law enforcement agencies, and heads of enterprises and firms.

Vaishyas and Shudras

The main task of a vaishya is work related to raising livestock, cultivating the land and harvesting crops. This is any socially respected occupation. For this work, the vaishya receives a profit or salary. Their color is yellow. This is the main population of the country. In modern India, these are clerks, simple hired workers who receive money for their work and are satisfied with it.

Representatives of the lowest caste in India are the Shudras. From time immemorial they have been engaged in the most difficult and dirty work. Their color is black. IN Ancient India these were slaves and servants. The purpose of the Shudras is to serve the three highest castes. They did not have their own property and could not pray to the gods. Even in our time, this is the poorest segment of the population, which often lives below the poverty line.

The Untouchables

This category includes people whose soul has sinned greatly in past life, the lowest stratum of society. But even among them there are numerous groups. The highest classes, representing the untouchable Indian castes, photos of which can be seen in historical publications, are people who have at least some kind of craft, for example, garbage and toilet cleaners. At the very bottom of the hierarchical caste ladder are petty thieves who steal livestock. The most unusual layer of untouchable society is considered to be the hijru group, which includes representatives of all sexual minorities. Interestingly, these representatives are often invited to weddings or births of children, and they often participate in church ceremonies.

Most worst person- is one who does not belong to any caste. The name of this category of the population is pariahs. These include people who were born from other pariahs or as a result of inter-caste marriages and who are not recognized by any class.

Modern India

Although it does happen public opinion that modern India is free from the prejudices of the past, today this is far from the case. The system of division into classes has not disappeared anywhere; castes in modern India are as strong as ever. When a child enters school, he is asked what religion he professes. If it is Hindu, the next question will be about his caste. Also, when entering a university or college, caste has great importance. If future student belongs to a higher caste, he needs to score fewer points, etc.

Belonging to a particular class affects employment, as well as how a person wants to arrange his future. A girl from a Brahmin family is unlikely to marry a man from the Vaishya caste. Unfortunately it is so. But if the groom is higher in social status than the bride, an exception is sometimes made. In such marriages, the child's caste will be determined by the paternal line. Such caste rules regarding marriage have been completely unchanged since ancient times and cannot be relaxed in any way.

The desire to officially downplay the importance of caste in modern India has led to the absence of a line on membership in a particular group in the latest census forms. The last data on castes in censuses was published in 1931. Despite this, the cumbersome mechanism of dividing the population into classes still works. This is especially noticeable in the remote provinces of India. Although the caste system appeared thousands of years ago, today it is alive, working and developing. It allows people to be around others like themselves, provides support from fellow humans, and defines rules and behavior in society.

Ancient India is one of the first civilizations in the world, which brought the largest number of different spiritual values to world culture. Ancient India is a fairly rich subcontinent with a turbulent and complex history. It was here that the greatest religions were once born, empires appeared and collapsed, but the “enduring” originality of Indy culture was preserved from century to century. This civilization built large and very well-planned cities from bricks with running water and built a pictographic writing system that cannot be deciphered to this day.

India acquired its name from the name of the Indus River, in the valley of which it is located. "Indus" in lane. means "river". With a length of 3180 kilometers, the Indus originates in Tibet, flows through the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Himalayas, and flows into the Arabian Sea. Various finds of archaeologists indicate that in Ancient India there was a human society already during the Stone Age, and it was then that the first social relations arose, art arose, permanent settlements appeared, the prerequisites arose for the development of one of the ancient world civilizations - the Indian Civilization, which appeared in Northwestern India (today almost the entire territory of Pakistan).

It dates back to approximately XXIII-XVIII centuries BC and is considered the 3rd civilization of the Ancient East. Its development, like the first two in Egypt and Mesopotamia, was directly related to the organization of high yields of irrigated agriculture. The first archaeological finds of terracotta figurines and pottery date back to the 5th millennium BC, they were made in Mehrgarh. It follows from this that Mehrgarh can already be considered a real city - this is the first city in Ancient India, which we learned about from archaeological excavations. The original deity of the indigenous population of Ancient India - the Dravidians - was Shiva. He is among the 3 main deities of Hinduism - Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva. All 3 gods are considered a manifestation of a single divine essence, but each is assigned a specific “sphere of activity.”

Thus, Brahma is considered the creator of the world, Vishnu was its guardian, Shiva was its destroyer, but it is he who recreates it. Among the indigenous inhabitants of Ancient India, Shiva was considered the main god, considered a model who had achieved his spiritual self-realization, the ruler of the world, the demiurge. The Indus Valley extends to the north-west of the subcontinent in the vicinity of ancient Sumer. There certainly were trade relations between these civilizations, and it is quite possible that it was Sumer who had a huge impact on Indian civilization. Throughout Indian history, the main route for the invasion of new ideas remained the North-West. All other routes to India were so closed by seas, forests and mountains that, for example, the great ancient Chinese civilization left almost no traces in it.

Formation of slave states.

The development of agriculture and crafts, as well as wars of conquest, led to the emergence of property inequality among the Aryans. The rajas who led the predatory campaigns accumulated a lot of wealth. With the help of warriors, they strengthen their power and make it hereditary. Rajahs and their warriors turn captives into slaves. They demand from peasants and artisans to pay taxes and work for themselves. Rajas are gradually turning into kings of small states. During wars, these small states unite into one, and then the ruler becomes a maharaja (“big king”). Over time, the council of elders loses its importance. From the tribal nobility, military leaders and officials are recruited, in charge of collecting taxes, organizing work on cutting down forests and draining swamps. Priests - brahmins - begin to play a significant role in the emerging state apparatus. They taught that the king is higher than other people, that he is “like the sun , burns the eyes and heart and no one on earth can even look at him.”

Castes and their role.

In the slave states of India in the first millennium BC. e. the population was divided into four groups called castes K. The first caste consisted of Brahmins. Brahmins did not engage in physical labor and lived on income from sacrifices. The second caste - Kshatriyas - was represented by warriors; State administration was also in their hands. There was often a struggle for power between the Brahmanas and the Kshatriyas. The third caste - Vaishyas - included farmers, shepherds and traders. The entire local population conquered by the Aryans formed the fourth caste - the Shudras. Shudras were servants and did the most difficult and dirty work. Slaves were not part of any caste. The division into castes violated the old tribal unity and opened up the possibility of uniting persons coming from different tribes within one state. Caste membership was hereditary. The son of a brahmana was born a brahmana, the son of a sudra was born a sudra. To perpetuate caste and caste inequality, the Brahmins created laws. They say that the god Brahma himself established inequality between people. Brahma, according to the priests, created Brahmans from his mouth, warriors from his arms, Vaishyas from his thighs, and Shudras from his feet, which were covered in dust and dirt. The caste division doomed the lower castes to hard, humiliating work. It closed the path to knowledge and government activity for capable people. Caste division hampered the development of society; it played a reactionary role.

Four Indian Varnas

Varnas and castes in our time

One and a half thousand years BC, Indian society was divided into 4 classes. They were called varnas. From Sanskrit it is translated as “color”, “quality” or “category”. According to the Rig Veda, varnas or castes emerged from the body of God Brahma.

In ancient India there were originally the following castes (varnas):

Brahmins;
Kshatriyas;
Vaishya;
Shudras.

According to legend, Brahma created 4 castes from parts of his body

The emergence of castes in ancient India

There are many reasons for the emergence of varnas or the so-called Indian castes. For example, the Aryans (not to be confused with the pseudoscientific “Aryans”), having conquered Indian land, decided to divide the local people according to skin color, origin and financial status. This simplified social relationships and created winning conditions for government. The Aryans obviously elevated themselves to a higher caste and took only Brahmin girls as wives.

A more detailed table of Indian castes with rights and responsibilities

Caste, Varna and Jati - what is the difference?

Most people confuse the concepts of “caste” and “varna”; many consider them synonymous. But this is not the case, and it needs to be dealt with.

Every Indian, without the right to choose, was born into closed group- in Varna. They are sometimes called the Indian caste. However, caste in India is a subgroup, a stratification in each varna, which is why caste exists today countless. Only in 1931, according to the census, data on 3,000 Indian castes were published. And varna is always 4.

In fact, there are more than 3000 castes in India, and there are always four varnas

Jati is the second name of caste and sub-caste, and every resident of India has a jati. Jati - belonging to a particular profession, to a religious community, it is also closed and endogamous.

Each varna has its own jatis.

You can draw a primitive analogy with our society. For example, there are children of rich parents. This is varna. They study in separate kindergartens, schools and universities, and communicate mainly with each other. These children, growing into teenagers, are divided into subcultures. Some become hipsters, some become “elite” entrepreneurs, others become creative intellectuals, and some become free travelers. This is jati or caste.

Castes in India can be divided by religion, profession and even interests

Four Indian Varnas

They can be divided by interests, by chosen professions. However, oddly enough, people of this varna rarely “mix” with other, lower varnas and even castes, and always strive to communicate with those who are higher than them.- the highest varna or caste in India. It included priests, clergy, sages, teachers, spiritual guides and those people who connected other people with God. Brahmins were vegetarians and could only eat food prepared by people of their castes.

Brahmins are the highest and most respected caste in India

Kshatriyas is an Indian caste or varna of warriors, defenders of their country, combatants, soldiers and, surprisingly, kings and rulers. Kshatriyas were the protectors of brahmanas, women, old people, children and cows. They were allowed to kill those who did not observe the dharma.

The most prominent representatives of the Kshatriya warrior caste are the Sikhs

Vaishya- these are free community members, traders, artisans, farmers, the working class. They did not like to do hard physical labor and were extremely scrupulous about food. Among them could be very wealthy and wealthy people - owners of enterprises and lands.

The Vaishya caste is often rich merchants and landowners who do not like hard menial work

Shudras- the lowest varna or caste of India. It included servants, laborers and laborers. All those who had neither home nor land, and performed the most difficult physical work. Shudras did not have the right to pray to the gods and become “twice-born”.

Shudras are the lowest caste in India. They live poorly and work very hard

The religious ceremony that was performed by the three upper varnas or castes of India was called “upanayana”. During the process of initiation, a consecrated thread corresponding to his varna was placed around the boy's neck, and from then on he became “dvija” or “twice-born”. He received a new name and was considered a brahmachari - a student.

Each caste has its own rituals and initiations

Hindus believe that living a righteous life allows one to be born into a higher caste in the next life. And vice versa. And the brahmins, who have already gone through a large cycle of rebirths on Earth, will be incarnated on other, divine planets.

The untouchable caste - myth and reality

Special attention should be paid to the untouchables. The existence of 5 Indian castes is a myth. In fact, untouchables are those people who did not fall into the 4 varnas for some reason. According to Hinduism, they led an impious life in their previous rebirth. The “caste” of untouchables in India is most often homeless, poor people who carry out the most humiliating and dirty work. They beg and steal. They defile the Indian Brahmin caste with their presence.

This is how the untouchable caste lives in India today

The Government of India protects the untouchables to some extent. It is a criminal offense to call such people untouchables or even out-caste. Discrimination on social grounds is prohibited.

Varnas and castes in India today

What castes are there in India today? - you ask. And there are thousands of castes in India. Some of them are few in number, but there are also castes known throughout the country. For example, hijras. This is the Indian untouchable caste, in India it includes transgenders, transsexuals, bisexuals, hermaphrodites, intersex people and homosexuals. Their processions can be seen on the streets of cities and towns, where they make offerings to the Mother Goddess. Thanks to numerous protests, the Indian hijra caste achieved official recognition of itself as a “third gender”.

People with non-traditional sexual orientation (Hijras) in India also belong to the untouchable caste

Varnas and castes in India in our time are considered some kind of relic of the past, but in vain - the system remains. IN big cities The borders are somewhat blurred, but in the villages the old way of life is still preserved. According to the Indian Constitution, discrimination against people based on varna or caste is prohibited. There is even a Constitutional Table of Castes, in which, by the way, the term “community” is used instead of “Indian caste”. It states that every citizen of India has the right to receive an appropriate document that indicates their caste membership.

In India, anyone can obtain a caste document

So, the caste system in India has not only survived and survived to this day, it still works to this day. Moreover, other peoples are also divided into varnas and castes, they simply do not give this social division a name.

For a long time, the dominant idea was that, at least in the Vedic era, Indian society was divided into four classes, called varnas, belonging to each of which was associated with professional activity. Outside the varna division were the so-called untouchables.

Anton ZykovMPhil (Oxford University) - teacher of the open program "Persian language and culture of Iran" at the Higher School of Economics

Subsequently, smaller hierarchical communities - castes - were formed within the varnas, which also included ethnic and territorial characteristics, belonging to a particular clan. In modern India, the varna-caste system still operates, which largely determines a person’s position in society, but this social institution is modified every year, partially losing its historical significance.

Varna

The concept of “varna” is first found in the Rig Veda. The Rig Veda, or "Veda of Hymns", is one of the four main and oldest Indian religious texts. It is compiled on Vedic Sanskrit and dates back to approximately the 2nd millennium BC. The tenth mandala of the Rig Veda (10.90) contains a hymn about the sacrifice of the first man Purusha. According to the hymn, Purusha Sukta, the gods throw Purusha onto a sacrificial fire, pour oil on him and dismember him, each part of his body becomes a kind of metaphor for a certain social class - a certain varna. Purusha's mouth became brahmanas, that is, priests, his hands became kshatriyas, that is, warriors, his thighs became vaishyas (farmers and artisans), and his legs became sudras, that is, servants. The untouchables are not mentioned in the Purusha Sukta, and thus they stand outside the varna division.

Varna division in India (quora.com)

Based on this hymn, European scholars who studied Sanskrit texts in late XVIII- the beginning of the 19th century, they came to the conclusion that Indian society was structured in this way. The question remained: why is it structured this way? In Sanskrit, the word varṇa means “color,” and Orientalist scholars decided that “color” meant skin color, extrapolating the contemporary social realities of colonialism to Indian society. So, the Brahmins, who are at the head of this social pyramid, should have the lightest skin, and the rest of the classes, accordingly, should be darker.

Such a theory for a long time supported by the theory of the Aryan invasion of India and the superiority of the Aryans over the proto-Aryan civilization that preceded them. According to this theory, the Aryans (“Ariya” in Sanskrit means “noble”, representatives of the white race were associated with them) subjugated the autochthonous dark-skinned population and rose to a higher social level, consolidating this division through the hierarchy of varnas. Archaeological research has refuted the theory of the Aryan conquest. Now we know that the Indus civilization (or the civilization of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro) did die unnaturally, but most likely as a result of a natural disaster.

In addition, the word “varna” most likely does not mean skin color, but the connection between different social strata and a certain color. For example, the connection between Brahmins and orange color, which is reflected in their saffron robes.

Evolution of the varn system

A number of linguists already in the 20th century, such as Georges Dumezil and Emile Benveniste, believed that even the Proto-Indo-Aryan community, before it split into Indian and Iranian branches, contained a three-stage social division. The text of the Yasna, one of the components of the Zoroastrian holy book of the Avesta, the language of which is related to Sanskrit, also speaks of a three-level hierarchy, where at the head are the Atravans (in today's Indian tradition, Atornanas) - priests, Rateshtars - warriors, Vastrya-fshuyants - shepherds-cattle breeders and farmers. In another passage in the Yasna (19.17), a fourth social class is added to them - huitish (artisans). Thus, the system of social strata becomes identical to that which we observed in the Rig Veda. We cannot, however, say exactly how much of a real role this division played in the 2nd millennium BC. Some scholars suggest that this social occupational division was largely arbitrary and people could freely move from one part of society to another. A person became a representative of one or another social class, after choosing his profession. Moreover, the hymn about the superman Purusha is a relatively later inclusion in the Rig Veda.

Legacy of the British EmpireLegacy of the British EmpireHistorian Alexander Voevodsky about the founding fathers of the USA, the emergence of a unified state in India and the path of Mahatma GandhiIn the Brahmanical era, it is assumed that a more rigid consolidation took place social status various segments of the population. In later texts, such as the Manu-smriti (Laws of Manu), written around the turn of our era, the social hierarchy appears less flexible. We find an allegorical description of social classes as parts of the body similar to the Purusha Sukta in another Zoroastrian text - “Denkard”, created in the Middle Persian language in the 10th century.

If you go back to the era of the formation and heyday of the Great Mughals, that is, in the XVI - beginning of XVIII century, the social structure of this state seems more mobile. At the head of the empire was the emperor, who was surrounded by an army and his closest devotees, his court, or darbar. The capital was constantly changing, the emperor and his darbar moved from place to place, people flocked to the court different people: Afghans, Pashtuns, Tamils, Uzbeks, Rajputs, anyone. They received one or another place in the social hierarchy depending on their own military merits, and not only because of their origin.

British India

In the 17th century, the British colonization of India began through the East India Company. The British did not try to change social structure Indian society, in the first period of their expansion they were only interested in trade profits. Subsequently, however, as more and more territories fell under the actual control of the company, officials were concerned with the successful administrative control of taxes, as well as with studying how Indian society was organized and the “natural laws” of its administration. For this purpose, the first Governor-General of India, Warren Hastings, hired several Bengali Brahmins, who, of course, dictated to him laws that consolidated the dominance of the upper castes in the social hierarchy. On the other hand, in order to structure taxation, it was necessary to make people less mobile, less likely to move between different regions and provinces. What could ensure their anchorage on the ground? Only placing them in certain socio-economic communities. The British began to conduct censuses, which also indicated caste, so it was assigned to everyone at the legislative level. And the last factor was the development of large industrial centers such as Bombay, where clusters of individual castes formed. Thus, during the OIC rule, the caste structure of Indian society acquired a more rigid outline, which led a number of researchers, such as Niklas Derks, to talk about caste as it exists today as a social construct of colonialism.

British Army polo team in Hyderabad (Hulton Archive // gettyimages.com)

After the rather bloody Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, sometimes called the First War of Independence in Indian historiography, the Queen issued a manifesto to close the East India Company and annex India to the British Empire. In the same manifesto, the colonial authorities, fearing a repetition of unrest, promised not to interfere in internal order governance of the country regarding its social traditions and norms, which also contributed to the further strengthening of the caste system.

Castes

Thus, a more balanced view seems to be the opinion of Susan Bailey, who argues that although the varna-caste structure of society in its current form is largely a product of the British colonial legacy, the castes themselves as units of social hierarchy in India did not just appear out of thin air. . The mid-20th century idea of the total hierarchy of Indian society and of caste as its main structural element, which is best described in the work “Homo Hierarchicus” by Louis Dumont, is also considered unbalanced.

“Upanishad” An excerpt from the collection “The Free Philosopher Pyatigorsky”, which includes lectures by Alexander Pyatigorsky on world philosophy from the teachings of Ancient India to Sartre. It is important to note that there is a difference between the concepts of “varna” and “caste” (a word borrowed from Portuguese), or “jati” " “Jati” means a smaller hierarchical community, which implies not only professional, but also ethnic and territorial characteristics, as well as belonging to a particular clan. If you are a Maharashtrian Brahmin, it does not mean that you will follow the same rituals as a Kashmiri Brahmin. There are some national rituals, for example, tying a Brahmin thread, but in to a greater extent caste rituals (eating, marriage) are determined at the level of a small community.

Varnas, which are supposed to be professional communities, play virtually no such role in modern India, with the possible exception of the pujari priests who become brahmanas. It happens that representatives of some castes do not know which varna they belong to. There is a constant change in position in the socio-economic hierarchy. When India became independent from the British Empire in 1947 and elections began to be held on the basis of equal direct voting, the balance of power in different states began to change in favor of certain Varna-caste communities. In the 1990s, the party system fragmented (after a long and almost undivided period in which the Indian National Congress was in power), and many political parties were created, which are based on varna-caste ties. For example, in the largest state by population, Uttar Pradesh, the Socialist Party, based on the Yadav peasant caste, who nevertheless consider themselves kshatriyas, and the Bahujan Samaj Party, which proclaims to defend the interests of the untouchables, constantly replace each other in power. It doesn’t even matter what socio-economic slogans are put forward, they simply meet the interests of their community.

Nowadays there are several thousand castes in India, and their hierarchical relations cannot be called stable. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, the Shudras are richer than the Brahmins.

Caste restrictions

More than 90% of marriages in India take place within a caste community. As a rule, Indians use their caste name to determine which caste a person belongs to. For example, a person may live in Mumbai, but he knows that historically he comes from Patiala or Jaipur, then his parents look for a groom or bride from there. This occurs through matrimonial agencies and family connections. Of course, now socio-economic status plays an increasingly important role. U eligible groom must have a Green Card or American work permit, but the Varna-caste connection is also very important.

There are two social layers, whose representatives do not so strictly observe Varna-caste matrimonial traditions. This is the highest stratum of society. For example, the Gandhi-Nehru family, which was in power in India for a long time. The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a Brahmin whose ancestors came from Allahabad, a very high caste in the Brahmin hierarchy. However, his daughter Indira Gandhi married a Zoroastrian (Parsi), which caused a big scandal. And the second layer that can afford to violate varna-caste prohibitions is the lowest strata of the population, the untouchables.

The Untouchables

The untouchables stand outside the varna division, but, as Marika Vaziani notes, they themselves have a caste structure. Historically, there are four signs of untouchability. First, lack of overall food intake. The food consumed by the untouchables is "dirty" in nature for the higher castes. Secondly, lack of access to water sources. Thirdly, the untouchables do not have access to religious institutions, temples, where the highest castes perform rituals. Fourthly, the absence of matrimonial ties between untouchables and pure castes. This kind of stigmatization of untouchables is practiced in full by about a third of the population.

The process of the emergence of the phenomenon of untouchability is still not completely clear. Orientalist researchers believed that the untouchables were representatives of a different ethnic group, race, perhaps those who joined the Aryan society after the end of the Indus civilization. Then a hypothesis arose that those who became untouchables professional groups, whose activities for religious reasons began to have a “dirty” character. There is an excellent book, even for some period banned in India, “The Sacred Cow” by Dwijendra Dha, which describes the evolution of the sacralization of the cow. In early Indian texts we see descriptions of cow sacrifices, and later cows became sacred animals. People who were previously engaged in slaughtering cattle, finishing cow hides, and so on, became untouchable due to the process of sacralization of the image of a cow.

Untouchability in modern India

In modern India, untouchability is mostly practiced in villages, where, as already mentioned, it is fully observed by about a third of the population. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, this practice was strongly rooted. For example, in one village in Andhra Pradesh, untouchables had to cross the streets with palm leaves tied to their belts to cover their tracks. Representatives of the upper castes could not step on the footprints of untouchables.

In the 1930s, the British changed their laissez faire policy and began the process of positive discrimination. They established the percentage of that part of the population that belongs to the socially backward strata of society, and introduced reserved seats in the representative bodies created in India, in particular for Dalits (lit. “oppressed” - this term, borrowed from Marathi, is the politically correct name for untouchables today) . Today, this practice has been adopted at the legislative level for three groups of the population. These are the so-called “scheduled castes” (Dalits or actually untouchables), “scheduled tribes”, also “other backward classes”. However, more often than not, all three of these groups can now be defined as “untouchables,” recognizing their special status in society. They make up more than a third of the inhabitants of modern India. Reservation of seats creates a difficult situation as casteism was prohibited even in the 1950 Constitution. By the way, its main author was the Minister of Justice Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, who himself was from the Maharashtrian caste of sweeper-Mahars, that is, he himself was an untouchable. In some states, the percentage of reservation already exceeds the constitutional limit of 50%. The most heated debate in Indian society is about those occupying the lowest social position castes engaged in manual cleaning of cesspools and subject to the most severe caste discrimination.

We already live in the 21st century and we think that many secrets of science and technology have already been revealed, many social issues have been resolved, etc. Despite all these achievements, there are still places where, to this day, social society are divided into different layers - castes. What is the caste system? Caste (from the Portuguese casta - gens, generation and descent) or Varna (translated from Sanskrit - color), a term applied primarily to the main division of Hindu society in the Indian subcontinent. According to Hindu belief, there are four main Varnas (castes) - Brahmans (officials), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants) and Shudras (peasants, workers, servants). Of the most early works It is known from Sanskrit literature that the peoples who spoke Aryan dialects during the period of the initial settlement of India (from approximately 1500 to 1200 BC) were already divided into four main classes, later called Varnas. Modern castes are divided into a large number of sub-castes - jati. Hindus believe in reincarnation and believe that whoever follows the rules of his caste future life rises by birth to a higher caste, the one who violates these rules will lose social status. Brahmins Brahmins are the most upper layer this system. Brahmins serve as spiritual mentors, work as accountants and accountants, officials, teachers, and take possession of lands. They are not supposed to follow the plow or perform certain types of manual labor; women from their midst can serve in the house, and landowners can cultivate plots, but not plow. Members of each Brahmin caste marry only within their own circle, although it is possible to marry a bride from a family belonging to a similar subcaste from a neighboring area. When choosing food, a Brahmin observes many prohibitions. He has no right to eat food prepared outside his caste, but members of all other castes can eat food from the hands of brahmanas. Some Brahmin sub-castes may consume meat. Kshatriyas Kshatriyas are right behind the brahmanas in ritual terms and their task is mainly to fight and protect their homeland. Today, kshatriyas' occupations include working as estate managers and serving in various administrative positions and in the military. Most kshatriyas eat meat and, although they allow marriage with a girl from a lower subcaste, a woman under no circumstances can marry a man from a subcaste lower than her own. Vaishyas Vaishyas are the layers that engage in trade. Vaishyas are more strict in their observance of food regulations and are even more careful to avoid ritual pollution. The traditional occupation of Vaishyas is trade and banking; they tend to stay away from physical labor, but sometimes they are included in the management of the farms of landowners and village entrepreneurs, without directly participating in the cultivation of the land. Shudras “Pure” Shudras are a peasant caste. They, due to their numbers and ownership of a significant part of local land, play an important role in solving social and political issues in some areas. Shudras eat meat, and widows and divorced women are allowed to marry. The lower Shudras are numerous sub-castes whose profession is of a highly specialized nature. These are the castes of potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, joiners, weavers, oil makers, distillers, masons, barbers, musicians, tanners, butchers, scavengers and many others. Untouchables Untouchables are engaged in the dirtiest jobs and are in many ways outside the boundaries of Hindu society. They are engaged in cleaning dead animals from the streets and fields, toilets, tanning leather, etc. Members of these castes are forbidden to visit the houses of the “pure” castes and take water from their wells, they are even forbidden to step on the shadows of other castes. Most Hindu temples until recently were closed to untouchables; there was even a ban on approaching people from higher castes closer than a set number of steps. The nature of caste barriers is such that they are believed to continue to pollute members of “pure” castes, even if they have long since abandoned their caste occupation and are engaged in ritually neutral activities such as agriculture. Although in other social settings and situations, for example, while in an industrial city or on a train, an untouchable may have physical contact with members of higher castes and not pollute them, in his own way native village untouchability is inseparable from him, no matter what he does. Throughout Indian history the caste structure showed remarkable stability before changes. Neither Buddhism, nor the Muslim invasion, which ended with the formation of the Mughal Empire, nor the establishment of British rule shook the fundamental foundations of the caste organization of society.